The Posture of Obedience Pt 4 The Blessing in the command

Have you ever felt God tell you to move… but He didn’t show you the whole process, just the promise?

In this episode, we dive into “The Blessing Inside the Command”—a powerful message from the series The Posture of Obedience. We’ll walk with Abram, who hears God say “Go,” and then watches God attach blessing to obedience, even when the path leads through famine, failure, and moral struggle.

If you’ve ever wrestled with a hard instruction from God, felt like obedience led you into a famine season, or wondered whether your missteps have ruined His plan, this message will remind you:
There is a blessing hidden inside every command, and grace is strong enough to carry you through the process.

Hit play and let this word stir you to move when God speaks—and to get back to the altar when He brings you out.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Genesis chapter number twelve. We're going to be reading verses one through four. Genesis twelve one through four. And it reads as thus. Now the Lord said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, from thy kindred, from thy father's house, unto a land I will show thee. I will make thee a great nation, I will bless thee, and make thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing. And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curseth thee, and in thee all the families of the earth shall or shall be blessed. So Abraham departed as the Lord had spoken unto him and Lot with him, and Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed out of Haran. Put the word down, put it to the side, and let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for just another opportunity we have to come and hear what you have to say to your church. Heavenly Father, we come with the understanding, God, that you are everything. And without you, we are nothing. So, God, I ask right now that before we do anything else, that you forgive us, forgive me for everything that we said, did, thought about that was not like you. Cast it in a sea of forgetfulness and remember it no more. We don't want anything to hinder or stop the blessings that you have in store for us. Now, God, I ask that you hide me behind the cross. Don't let them see me, don't let them hear me, but let them hear and see you. Use me for your glory, God. My mind, my body, my my spirit, everything about me belongs to you. Overshadow me, overtake me. Speak through me this morning, Father. And God, I ask that you touch the ears of the people that are going to hear this message. That this message that you have placed in my spirit will resonate with them. Carry them this week. And when they come into difficult times, they'll see how you have provided and how you have moved, and how your hand is mighty, and how your Holy Spirit is leading them. Thank you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen and amen. As we continue with the theme, the posture of obedience, I would like to leave you with this thought entitled The Blessing in the Command. The blessing in some sorry, the blessing inside the command. The blessing inside the command. Has anyone ever spoken to you in such a way that their words carry both a command and a blessing simultaneously? The truth is, we encounter this more often than we realize. The command and the blessing woven together as one. Notice that after God told Abram to leave, the very next statement he made followed with blessings. Abraham did not speak, he did not utter a word, he just moved. Abraham's heart and his faith reacted to what God said, and he moved quickly. Here now, God shows Abram what the end would be like or what the end would be like, but did not show him the process. Later in scripture, we discover that God gave Joseph a dream. And in that dream, he showed Joseph the throne before he showed him the prison. God uses God's same method, same person, different time, different situation, but the same God. God shows how we are, or God shows you where you are and where you're going to end up, but he never shows you the process or what it will take for you to get to your destiny. Now he is speaking to Abraham, telling him to move when he does what he's going to do and what will happen when Abraham moves? He never told Abraham what he would have to go through. He just told him to go. Ladies and gentlemen, I must stop here because how many times have God told us something and we did not respond? How many times have God gave us a dream and we did not respond to it? So we think that not moving when God speaks is not a response. But it is. See, God is not looking for a verbal response. He's looking for your nonverbal response. He's looking for that nonverbal response, which signifies his action to God's obedience or the action to the action to be obedient to what God has said. You can respond with your mouth and say, Yes, Lord, I'll still obey. But when you respond with your actions to what your obedience is, you're telling God yes. Even if you don't understand it, even if you don't like it, even if it does not feel good, the Bible tells us it all works out for your good. But in order for it to work out for you, you have to be obedient. Abraham's act of faith and obedience to God. He did it without hesitation. This posture of obedience made a resounding noise that echoed in the heavens and the earth. The posture of obedience echoed throughout the life of Abram. Obedience did not come or does not come without a struggle. This is one of the most difficult areas of our life because total obedience means total surrender. I'm going to repeat that again because I think that that signifies total obedience requires total surrender. Total obedience means that I will follow without regards to my life because you have me in the palm of your hand. Notice now that after God spoke, he didn't say anything until Abram moved. I must pause here. Have you ever questioned why you can't hear God sometimes? Could it be that he is spoken and you did not move? So he got, so he is not going to say another word until you start to move. Why would God continue to speak and give you the same response? God will begin to speak and show you things when you start to walk out your purpose in him. Abraham moved into a land that was occupied by Canaanites, where God told Abraham, Thy seed, unto thy seed I will give you this land. When Abraham went into that land, he built an altar. Notice that the altar that he built as a reminder of his encounter with God. Throughout Abraham's, or throughout Abram's journey in the land, every time he encountered God, he built an altar, a place of worship. It was more than that. Abraham was spiritually marking his journey around the land. Ladies and gentlemen, you have to. Not just any place, but a place where he would leave a mark. Not just a mark, but a spiritual marker, signifying the presence of God was here. Everywhere Abram went, he marked it. He didn't just pass through it. He planted something and said, the spirit of the God was here. Don't count it strange that the places you have been. Don't count it strange the jobs that you have positioned or you are on now. Don't count it strange the schools that you attended. Don't count it strange the neighborhood that you moved into. God marked that place through you. Don't count it strange the people you have encountered. God is leaving spiritual markers throughout your life to show his presence was there. And there is where you need to understand once something is marked by God, once something is marked by God, even though the natural person has moved on, the presence of the Lord is still there. You may leave that place, but the mark does not leave. What God touched stays touched. His presence continues to be in that place. So when a nonverbal believer or a non-believer walks into that space, he feels something different. They can't explain it, but they know something has changed the atmosphere. They can't explain it, but they know something is different in the atmosphere. That difference was God was there. That difference that you showed up. You invoked the name of Jesus. And when they walked into that room, they felt Jesus' presence. And you mark the place. I tell somebody, wherever I go, I'm marking the place. Wherever I encounter God, I'm marking it. Why? Because that presence of God will resonate in that area. So when someone else walks in that space, when someone else walks into that dwelling, when someone else encounters something in that area, they can say, I felt something different. What they felt was the spirit of God there. What they felt was the spirit that you left behind as a spiritual marker to signify God was there. So don't despise where God is taking you. Don't despise where God is taking you or showing you. Move where God tells you to move. He's planting spiritual markers. So when people show up, they know that you've been there. They know that the presence of the Lord is there and that atmosphere has shifted. And when we as believers walk into that space, we know that God dwells here. Have you ever been in a service that was so high when you left, and then you returned for midweek service, and that same spirit that was there on Sunday is there on Wednesday. And then when you leave on Wednesday, that same spirit that was there on Wednesday is there next Sunday. God walked that place. So now when non-believers come into the sanctuary, when non-believers come into that area, they have to acknowledge that something is different about that space. God marked it. God dwells there. God delivers there. God sets free there. So set your mark on these places. So when non-believers or anybody else comes into the atmosphere, they know that Jesus is in the room, that God dwells here. God has called us to leave spiritual markers as reminders to those who come behind us that this place now belongs to God. Whenever God has placed you, the atmosphere has to change. Notice here, as soon as Abraham moved and was obedient to the calling of God, he walked into a famine. And this was not just a mild famine. The scriptures and some scriptures say it was a severe famine. Other translations called it oppressive. Have you ever followed God's instructions, thinking that everything was going to be fine? I obeyed God. I'm walking, I'm going to do, I'm going to walk in the way that God showed me, right into my blessing. But the first thing you encounter after moving is something called or designed to oppress you. See, walking in obedience to God does not mean everything is going to be popcorn and candy. Sometimes you're going to have to struggle, but you must continue to press through that trouble. So Abraham leaves where he was and heads towards Egypt to escape the famine. As he journeys towards Egypt, Abraham begins facing moral and spiritual complexity. He has been faced, have you ever faced an issue that tested both your morality and spirituality at the same time? This is what Abraham was facing. As he approached Egypt, he looked at his wife and said, You are a beautiful woman. And when the Egyptians see you, they're going to take me from you. So to save them, he told her, tell them you are my sister. This decision by Abraham was rooted in fear rather than trust. He trusted God enough to leave his country and his family. But when trouble showed up, he decided to abandon his trust and lean to his own understanding of the situation. The Bible tells us in Proverbs 3, 5 and 6, trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct your paths. So Pharaoh looks at Sarah, take Sarai from Adam, and entreats or treats Adam well, or Abram well. I'm sorry, Abram well. He gave Abram great substance. But God was displeased with Pharaoh and his house. And he put plagues upon the house of Pharaoh because of Sarah, Abram's wife. Now Pharaoh confronts Abram because nothing like this has ever happened until he took Sarah. The plagues functioned as a sign that revealed what Abram's deception had hidden, prompting Pharaoh to question Abram directly and extract the truth. And once the truth was revealed, Pharaoh told Abram leave and took and take all that you have, even the things I gave you. So Abram departed with sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male and female servants, female donkeys and camels. Ladies and gentlemen, when you are facing a mortal and spiritual issue, always seek God's face. The Bible tells us in Jeremiah 29, 11 through 13. For I know the thoughts I think towards you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then will you call, call upon me and go and pray to me, and I will listen to you. And when you seek me and find me, when you search for me with your whole heart. Did you hear that? He already knows the thoughts he has towards you. And they are not evil thoughts toward you. They are thoughts of peace. They are thoughts that will carry you to your future and a hope. But notice the condition. You have to find him when you search for him with your whole heart. Not half your heart, not when it's convenient, with your whole heart. He will show you your way out, both spiritually and morally. But when you think, oh, but when you take things into your own hands, you are muddying the waters. You are putting a wrinkle into God's plan. You start making decisions God never authorized. Who? You cannot continue to make decisions that God never ordained for you to make. This is where we mess up, ladies and gentlemen. We want to make decisions based on our flesh. We want to make decisions based on what makes us feel good. God said, no, no, no, stop making decisions that I didn't authorize for you to make. You start making decisions that God never appointed or never appointed you to do. And here is what you need to understand. God does not need your help to direct your path. God is God all by Himself. God said, I'll direct you. I don't need your help. I just need your obedience. I don't need your help. All I need is your yes. I don't need you to do anything but follow. I don't need your help when I'm directing you. All you need to do is follow and be obedient to what I say. Proverbs 3.16 or 3.6, I'm sorry, Proverbs chapter 3, verse 6 says it like this. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he what will or shall direct your path. He didn't say to us, figure it out, then acknowledge me. He said, Acknowledge me, and I will start directing. See, many of us get it twisted. Many of us want to do what we want to do, then acknowledge God after the fact. Many of us will walk with God until it gets to a point where we want to make our own decisions. Then when we make a decision, then we acknowledge God after the fact so God can justify what decisions that we make. No, no, no, no. It doesn't work that way. We have to acknowledge him before the decision ever even comes up. Why? Because the decisions that we make is coming from our flesh. The decisions that we make are coming from our perspective. God will direct us for this for in the direction that he wants us to go based on what he sees in our future. Ah, this is why it's important for us to walk in the spirit and not in the flesh. Because when we walk in the spirit, we will acknowledge God about everything that we do. Not just something, but everything. We'll acknowledge God when we wake up. We'll acknowledge God when we get in the car. We'll acknowledge God when we start speaking. We'll acknowledge God when on our way home. We'll start acknowledging God about everything in our life, not just what we deem or deem important. But thanks be to God that when we do step out, God steps in and makes sure that the plans He has for us is not destroyed by you. Ah, ladies and gentlemen, see the enemy will try to get you to make decisions about your life based on your life, based on your here and now, based on what you see. But God sees your future. So even though we might make a mistake, God steps right in, corrects that mistake so we don't destroy what God placed in us before due time. See, the enemy wants you to get to a place where we start making decisions based on what we see and how we act. God does not want us to make those decisions. Why? Because those decisions will hurt us. Those decisions will harm us. So he wants us to now make those decisions. Decisions in the spirit. He wants us to now acknowledge him before he before we make those decisions. Why? So he can lead and direct us. See, many people have destroyed their lives because they tried to do it by themselves. Ah, ladies and gentlemen, don't do it by yourself. You can't do it by yourself. God, let God do it for you. Ah, because when God does it for you, when God does it for you and you are obedient to what God says, do, yes, there will be difficult times. Yes, there will be hard times, but you'll get the benefit of following his obedience or following God's command. See, God don't want you to destroy what he placed in you. God placed his spirit in you to help you not destroy your promise, not destroy your destiny, not destroy your future. This is why we have the Holy Spirit to lead and direct us and to guide us. That's God telling us don't go here, don't go there. Because he's protecting his investment in you. He will move things and people who have every right to harm you and curse you, but instead they will bless you. Ah, I want you to notice something here. Abraham entered Egypt during the famine, but he came out with great substance. He entered one way and came out pointy. Ah, he emptied when it was a famine, came out with great substance. Ladies and gentlemen, if you stay obedient to God's word, even though you are entering into your famine season, or even though you might be in your famine season, you will come out on the other side with great substance. I don't know who I'm preaching to today, but I'm in a place where life caught famine, where things are scarce, when things are rough, when you can't see your area. But because you obey God, God has to move. Because you listen to God, God has to show up. And because you are obedient to his word, he will bring you out. And when he brings you out, you will come out with great substance. You will come out with more than what you went in with. You will come out changed. You will come out, you will come out wealthy and you went in poor, but you come out wealthy. Why? Because God had touched them to bless you. Pharaoh had every right to want to kill him, but God, but but God stepped in and said, No, no, no, you can't touch him. Bless him. So when he left, he left with the spoils or what Pharaoh gave him, which was a great substance. Now watch this. When Abraham leaves Egypt, he returns to the very place where the altar was built. Ah, he not only returns to the place where he built the altar when he first got into the land, but he returns back there. And what's the first thing he does? He calls on the name of the Lord. He went back to where it all started. He went back to the place where he first met God. Ladies and gentlemen, as I bring this message to a close, don't forget what God has done for you. Don't forget what God brought you out of. Don't forget how he made a way out of no way. Don't forget how he touched your body. Don't forget your first encounter with God. Don't forget where God has brought you out of. Don't forget when God stepped into your life. Don't forget when your mind was changed. Don't forget when your heart was changed. Don't forget when God stepped into that situation. Don't forget when God saved your life. Don't forget when God healed your body. Don't forget it. And when you go back, call on the name of the Lord. For he is mighty and strong. Call on the name of Jesus, for he showed up once, he'll show up again. He did it for you once before, he'll do it again. God said, show up at the place where the altar was placed and call on me. When your season of famine is over. Ah, there's a song that just dropped to my screen. Don't wait for the battles over, shout now. Don't wait, shout now. Ah, don't wait for the battles over, shout now. Because when you're in the famine, it's a struggle. When you're in a famine, you're trying to figure things out. When you're in a famine, you don't understand what things are going on around you. Don't wait for the famine to be over, shout now. Don't wait for the enemy to put some thoughts in your mind. Shout now. And when you make it out of the famine, make it a priority to go back to the old and get in the presence of God. The Bible tells us in Matthew chapter number six, verse number 33, but seek ye first the kingdom of God and all his righteousness, and every all these things shall be added unto you. The posture of obedience seeks after God. So God here is developing our posture of obedience. He is developing our posture of seeking Him. He's developing our posture to understand that when He begins to speak, that there's a blessing inside the command. In other words, God is telling us there's a blessing on the other side of obedience. Ah, that every time I begin to speak, that every time God begins to speak, you may not understand it. You may not understand it, you may not agree with it, you may find struggle with it. But God said all you gotta do is be obedient to it. Ah, and when you become obedient to the command, there's a blessing waiting for you. Ah, ladies and gentlemen, don't let nobody talk you out of what God spoke into your life. Don't let nobody tell you that God didn't say that to you. See, but the enemy will tell people to come to you and say, God didn't say that. No, no, no, no. Obey what God told you to say. Do what God told you to do and watch God move. Why? Because the command is inside the blessing. Or the blessing is inside the command. See, see, see, God will never tell you to do something and then not reward you for your obedience. Uh, God will never ask you to do something and then not reward you because you were obedient to what he says. Uh, ladies and gentlemen, this is in my spirit. I said it for, I've been saying it for a long time. There's a blessing on the other side of obedience. Sometimes we may not understand it. Sometimes we may, God, why is this happening to me? Why am I going through this? Why are you telling me to go here? They don't like me over there. They don't like me over here. I don't want to work there. I don't want to say that. God is saying, I'm not asking you, I'm demanding you. Why? Because if you obey what I've got to tell you, if you obey what I'm speaking to you, if you do what I tell you to do, there's a blessing waiting for you. Don't miss out on your blessing because you did not want to obey the command. Don't miss out on your blessing because you did not want to hear what God had to say. Don't miss out on your blessing because of your disobedience to what God is trying to get you to. Your obedience is the oh God, I thank you for dropping this. Your obedience is on on your obedience posture, is leading to you, leading you to your destiny. Uh, your obedience is leading you on the path of your destiny. And when you do your part and seeking him with your whole heart and doing what he says, do, God has a blessing waiting for you, God has a plan waiting for you. See, I understand that why God didn't show Abram the process, and we'll get into that as we continue to walk through the life of Abraham in the positive obedience. Because many of us who don't like the process, we want to give up midstream because the process seems too hard. We want to give up midstream because the process seems too difficult for us. Ah, but the process is not too difficult for you. The process is not too hard for you. What we got to learn through the process is to rely on Jesus and rely on his, stay obedient to what he tells us to do while we're in the middle of the process. Ah, ladies and gentlemen, the process is not meant to hurt you. The process is not meant to hold you back. The process is just preparation for what's coming ahead. The process is preparation for what God has in store for you. See, because what happens is during the process, he's developing you. During the process, he's maturing you. During the process, he's refining you. So when you get to your final destination, you can handle whatever comes your way. Don't despise, uh, thank you, Holy Ghost. He said, Don't despise small beginnings. Don't despise your start of the obedience walk. Because as you go through this process, you'll learn to obey him even the more. You'll learn to block out the noise, you'll learn to put God first in everything that we do. God is saying that during this walk and developing your posture of obedience. Just be obedient to what I tell you. And there's a blessing waiting for you on the other side. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you. Thank you for this word that you have given us today. Thank you for this moment of great reflection. Thank you for this time that we had to hear what you wanted to say to your church. Thank you for speaking to our very situation. Thank you for not allowing the enemy to uproot what you have planted in our spirit. And God, as we as you develop our posture of obedience, we understand now that it's not to hurt us. But this is developing us. Developing us to hear your voice even the more. God open up our spiritual ears so we can be obedient to what you have to say. Yes, God, it's going to be hard. Because sometimes we don't see it as you see it. But God, remind us that we should walk by faith and not by sight. And that you have a plan for us. A plan for our future and our hope. We thank you for this time that we have. Continue to develop our posture of obedience. And we thank you for doing it, God. And we'll be so mindful to give you honor, glory, and praise. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. And amen.